The Ship Model Forum

No need to lengthen Type 26 warship to meet Canada’s needs, says DND
David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: March 22, 2019

Industry representatives have been talking about the possibility that the Type 26 design will need to be altered significantly to meet Canadian requirements. There have been suggestions that the length of the ship will have to be increased by 10 metres to better accommodate a Canadian crew size. Questions about such a possibility were even raised by MPs at a Commons defence committee meeting last month.

But the Department of National Defence says there’s nothing to such claims. DND spokeswoman Ashley Lemire points out that Lockheed Martin’s proposal, based on the BAE Type 26, meets the requirements outlined in the Canadian government’s request for proposal. “Therefore, there is no need to lengthen the proposed design to meet Canada’s requirements,” she said.

DND procurement chief Pat Finn also faced similar questions from Conservative MPs during the Commons defence committee meeting last month. The Conservatives raised concerns about about whether the Type 26 had the speed or size to meet Canadian requirements. MPs also asked questions about whether the cost of the Canadian Surface Combatant program was increasing from $60 billion-$65 billion to $77 billion. Finn said there are no issues on speed or size for the Type 26. “The requirement for the Canadian Surface Combatant set standards for speed, berths, etc., so there’s no cost increase to the bid because of speed or berth,” Finn explained to MPs. “There’s been no documentation prepared and nothing has come across my desk that says there’s a cost increase to $77 billion.”

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Lockheed contracts OSI for Canadian Type 26 integrated bridge design
The integrated bridge and navigation system (IBNS) for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Type 26 surface combatants will be designed and delivered by OSI Maritime Systems.

OSI said the contract was awarded by Lockheed Martin Canada, who is working with Irving Shipbuilding to deliver a fleet of 15 warships under a contract from February 2019.

The CSC project, which is part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, will replace both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class multi-role patrol frigates with a single class of ship capable of meeting multiple threats on both the open ocean and the highly complex coastal environment.

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Canada’s new warships to cost up to $14B more than projected, says PBO
By Levon Sevunts |
english@rcinet.ca
Friday, June 21, 2019 12:19
The new generation of Canadian warships is expected to cost the federal treasury up to $14 billion more than the government projected in 2017, according to the latest report by the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer.
The updated cost estimate of the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) program, which will become the backbone of the Royal Canadian Navy’s fighting force, comes after the government selected BAE Type 26 design for its new warships last year.
The new estimate released Friday pegs the total cost of the CSC program at $69.8 billion over 26 years, including $5.3 billion in pre-production costs; $53.2 billion in production costs; and $11.4 billion in project-wide costs, said the PBO report.
In comparison, the 2017 PBO report estimated a total program cost of $61.8 billion, $8 billion less than the updated estimation.
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Industry briefing questions Ottawa's choice of guns, defence systems for new frigates
Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Dec 23, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 23
The Department of National Defence has faced some tough, pointed questions about whether it has chosen the right radar, main gun and close air defence systems for the navy's new frigates, which will soon hit the drawing board.

An unsolicited defence industry slide deck presentation, obtained by CBC News, questions each of those key components in the planned $60 billion modernization of the fleet.

It was circulated earlier this year and put in front of the senior federal officials in charge of the program.

The defence industry briefing presentation points out that the Lockheed Martin-built AN/SPY-7 radar system — an updated, more sophisticated version of an existing U.S. military system — has not been installed and certified on any warship. A land-based version of the system is being produced and fielded for the Japanese government.

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$1 billion and counting: Inside Canada's troubled efforts to build new warships
Federal government tables figures showing what it's spent on the projects to date
Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Feb 25, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 7 hours ago
The federal government has spent slightly more than $1.01 billion over the last seven years on design and preparatory contracts for the navy's new frigates and supply ships — and the projects still haven't bought anything that floats.
The figures, tabled recently in Parliament, represent the first comprehensive snapshot of what has been spent thus far on the frequently-delayed project to build replacement warships.
It's an enormous amount of money for two programs that have been operating for more than a decade with little to show for their efforts to date.
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Work starts on Rolls-Royce facility to support Canadian Type 26 Frigate build
By
George Allison
February 21, 2020
Rolls-Royce say it welcomed Canadian Minister Maryam Monsef to break ground on a new expansion to its Centre of Excellence for Naval Handling equipment in Peterborough, Ontario.
Design and manufacture of the Rolls-Royce Mission Bay Handling System (MBHS) will take place inside the new facility expansion say the firm.
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Seven Things You Should Know About the Canadian Surface Combatant
The new Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) will be the world’s most advanced and modern combat ship, equipped with next generation technology to support the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy as they fulfill their wide range of missions around the world, from humanitarian assistance to high-intensity conflicts, for the next 30+ years. Keep reading to learn more about this capable, Canadian-built ship.
1. The Canadian Surface Combatant replaces the existing HALIFAX Class ships and will serve for 30+ years.
Introduced into service in the 1990s, Canada’s HALIFAX class ships have been in the fleet for almost 30 years, and many of the companies who helped design and then modernize these ships are also on the Canadian Surface Combatant team.
2. The new ships will be capable of serving multiple missions around the globe.
CSC will be capable of serving missions ranging from humanitarian aid to high intensity conflict missions. The ships will be built in Canada and will support Royal Canadian Navy men and women in deployments around the globe. In fact, CSC will be fully interoperable with 5-eyes and NATO nations.(...SNIPPED)

Lockheed Martin Signs SPY-7 Radar Contract for CSC Frigate
Lockheed Martin announces contract signing for the SPY-7 Radar for the Canadian Surface Combatants.
Naval News Staff 11 Nov 2020
Lockheed Martin press release
From humanitarian assistance to high-intensity conflicts, the Royal Canada Navy’s future fleet will perform a wide range of missions requiring advanced technology and multi-role versatility. Lockheed Martin’s latest generation SPY-7 radar and Canadian-developed Combat Management System (CMS 330) will form the backbone of the Canadian Surface Combatant. Under a contract awarded by Irving Shipbuilding Inc. in September 2020 for the SPY-7 radar system, CSC will have the capability to keep Canada’s sailors safe and prepared in the face of modern threats.
“We optimized the CSC ship design with this particular radar to ensure the Royal Canadian Navy can fulfill a variety of missions with its flexible architecture. Partnering with our teammates, Lockheed Martin Canada has also begun the technology transfer of selected components of the radar system to Canadian suppliers for design, construction and implementation. The work in Canada will open doors to a new export market for local industry, producing high value jobs in Quebec and across the country through subcontractors and suppliers involved in the production.”

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Top of the line Canadian-made naval equipment shut out of $70-billion warship program
A spokeswoman says DND is “confident that we have competitively selected the best design to meet Canada’s needs.”
Author of the article:
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date:
Dec 16, 2020 • Last Updated 4 days ago • 6 minute read
Citizen@175: Winston Churchill – 'Mr. England' – takes Ottawa by storm
Canadian equipment that taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop isn’t being used on the country’s new $70-billion fleet of warships because the consortium that won the bid selected its own affiliated companies and their foreign systems.

A number of Canadian firms repeatedly tried to warn ministers and deputy ministers at the Department of National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada as well as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada that they would be shut out of the Canadian Surface Combatant project, according to federal government documents obtained by this newspaper.
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Battle of the budget: DND gears up to defend cost of new warships in the New Year
Murray Brewster 9 hrs ago
No matter which way they are going to be sliced, the numbers will be jaw-dropping.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is set, early in 2021, to deliver an assessment of the Royal Canadian Navy's long-anticipated frigate replacement program, a review that will give the public perhaps the clearest view yet of the kind of investment taxpayers will be asked to make in the future fleet.
A respected former senior defence official, writing in the military magazine Esprit de Corps this fall, took a stab at running the numbers and they are eye-watering, especially in a post-pandemic world.

Alan Williams estimated that when construction and lifetime operating and maintenance expenses are included the new fleet of 15 warships could cost between $213 billion and $219 billion.
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PBO comes under fire as navy worries about watchdog's report on troubled warship project
Author of the article:
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date:
Jan 26, 2021 • 2 days ago • 3 minute read

An association representing serving and retired Royal Canadian Navy personnel is telling MPs to be wary of the parliamentary budget officer and the watchdog’s upcoming report on the troubled $70 billion project to buy new warships.
But a Conservative MP is pushing back against what he labels as an attempt to discredit the PBO, saying he fully supports the watchdog’s efforts to get straight answers on what the Canadian Surface Combatant program will actually cost taxpayers.
President Biden plans to move U.S. government vehicles to electric power
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Navy needs to prepare for tough talks over warship delays, cost increases: Norman
By Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press
Posted February 3, 2021 7:44 am
Updated February 3, 2021 7:54 am
OTTAWA – Retired vice-admiral Mark Norman is warning the Royal Canadian Navy to start preparing for some hard discussions as delays and escalating costs continue to buffet the country’s $60-billion plan to build new warships over the coming decades.

The Department of National Defence revealed this week that the first of 15 new warships being built to replace the Navy’s 12 frigates and three already-retired destroyers will be delivered in 2030 or 2031, years later than planned.

News of the schedule slip comes ahead of a highly anticipated update from the parliamentary budget officer on the cost of the overall project, though defence officials have maintained the $

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